Columbus Crew's Kevin Molino expected to miss six to eight weeks after knee surgery
Crew forward Kevin Molino is expected to miss six to eight weeks after having surgery on his knee, the team announced Tuesday.
Molino, 32, has torn his ACL three times in his career, most recently in August 2021. He missed nearly a year while recovering from that injury, the second tear of his right ACL after tearing it for the first time in 2015, and also tore his left ACL in 2018. He also missed 10 games early in the 2021 season with a hamstring injury, and there was concern at the time that the injury was connected to his previous injuries.
After returning from his third significant knee injury, Molino appeared in 11 games for a total of 441 minutes for the Crew in the latter half of last season and scored one goal. Since signing with the Crew ahead of the 2021 season, Molino has made 25 appearances and played just 1,032 minutes, including three appearances totaling 16 minutes this season.
Molino was listed on the injury report as questionable with a knee injury prior to the Crew's game against the New York Red Bulls on Saturday. He had surgery, a meniscectomy, on Friday afternoon. A meniscectomy is performed to treat a torn meniscus cartilage, and the torn section of the meniscus is removed.
This injury isn't nearly as serious as Molino's three prior ACL tears, but given his history of significant knee injuries, another knee surgery when Molino has been hampered by knee issues in recent years is concerning at this stage of his career.
If Molino recovers on the expected timeline, the earliest game he could return for is against Inter Miami on May 29.
Get more Columbus Crew news by listening to our podcasts
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Crew's Kevin Molino will miss 6-8 weeks after knee surgery
